"They claim that the Palestinians try to plant bombs or infiltrate the settlements".

"In most cases," according to Amayreh, "it is ordinary Palestinian civilians walking past the area".

The Israeli soldiers, he said, "have clear instructions to shoot and several other Palestinians have been killed in similar situations in that area".

The latest death raised to 3682 the number of people killed since the September 2000 outbreak of the intifida, including 2756 Palestinians and 860 Israelis, according to an AFP count.

Invasions

Early on Tuesday, forces stormed the village of Kafar Malik near the occupied West Bank city of Ram Allah, before slapping a blockade on the area, reported our correspondent there.

Israeli troops killed a Palestinianyouth in Nablus last week

Soldiers searched homes for resistance fighters, said residents.

In the city of Nablus, hours after an Israeli military pullback, IDF forces re-invaded the area early on Tuesday, exchanging gunfire with Palestinians and imposing a curfew on 60,000 residents. Troops also forced residents out of their homes to conduct searches and children were prevented from going to school.

The latest military action follows a two-week invasion in which at least one Palestinian teenager was killed and dozens of other Palestinians arrested.

On Tuesday, soldiers stormed buildings and set up observation points on rooftops. Troops also barred Aljazeera's correspondent from entering Nablus's Old City.

There were no immediate reports of casualties, but ambulances were prevented from reaching the area.

Largest IDF raids

The swoop on the town early on Tuesday has been described as "one of the largest IDF raids in the West Bank in recent months" by the Israeli newspaper, Haaretz.

An army spokesman, Haaretz reports, said one "suspect" had been arrested overnight.

In the Balata refugee camp, Israeli operations have continued for the twelfth day.

Sixteen homes were evacuated overnight as soldiers threatened to demolish the houses, claiming the families were sheltering anti-occupation fighters, said our correspondent.

Sandbag barricades were erected, dividing the camp into half.

Israeli army sources said the invasions were ongoing since they had allegedly received warnings of possible resistance attacks in the areas.